AEG unveils traffic plan for downtown NFL stadium

To help ease traffic from its proposed 73,000-seat football stadium downtown, Anschutz Entertainment Group is proposing to widen freeway ramps, direct fans to public transit and use smartphone technology to point out available parking spots. | » STADIUM REPORT

But AEG's most ambitious proposal would involve widening the notoriously bottlenecked northbound 101 Hollywood Freeway, where traffic leaving downtown is consistently jammed. The developer has committed $2.5 million to study adding a lane to a roughly one-mile stretch of the 101 from downtown to the Glendale Boulevard exit, AEG told the Daily News this week.

That proposal is one of dozens in AEG's draft environmental impact report being released today.

The 10,000-page report provides the first detailed analysis of the potential impacts from the stadium and convention center project, including stadium noise and safety issues such as crowd control.

But it's the chapter on traffic that is the most eagerly awaited and will likely be the most scrutinized.

In an interview, AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke and the company's transportation consultant, Michael Bates, said traditional fixes, such as widening streets and re-striping lanes, would be recommended.

But AEG is also creating proprietary software to address mobility around the stadium.

Via an AEG-branded smartphone application, fans could buy tickets for a game or a ride on Metrolink and reserve a parking spot near the stadium. The app could guide them to their stadium seat and help them exit quickly at the end of the game.

"We start with that ticket purchase," Leiweke said. "That's where we are going to train them to think differently than (using) their car."

"We have to change habits," he added.

Getting football fans out of their cars at Farmers Field is required by law. Legislation passed last year requires that AEG build a "green" stadium - a sports facility that draws fewer car trips than other NFL venues.

So AEG is asking the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Metrolink to increase rail cars on nearby lines on games days. It proposes to double the size of the Pico Boulevard platform along the Blue Line - directly across from the stadium - to accommodate more passengers.

In addition to relying on the Blue Line, Red Line and soon-to-open Exposition Line, AEG will likely launch bus shuttles from parking lots far away from the stadium, similar to the Hollywood Bowl shuttle program.

The developer also wants to build wide sidewalks around Farmers Field to help pedestrian flow.

But for those who still want to drive, AEG has identified 50,000 existing parking spaces within a 20-minute walk of the proposed stadium and is planning to build 1,000 more, including two garages.

The company will also add 250 bicycle stalls to parking areas.

Building a sports stadium is particularly challenging given the traffic surges at the start and end of a game, said Chuck Olivo, owner of Stonefield Engineering, a New Jersey-based civil engineering and design firm, who is not involved in the project.

"You can't think of just getting cars in and out anymore when doing an EIR," Olivo said. "You have to think of all modes of transportation: Pedestrian, walking, bicyclists and shuttle buses."

AEG executives are also planning major infrastructure projects for the stadium.

A widening is eyed for the westbound 10 Freeway ramp at Los Angeles Street to accommodate heavy traffic expected from travelers taking the 60 Freeway and I-5.

And the northbound 101 is seen as a project that could fix a particularly congested part of the freeway. Bates wrote in an email that he believed the widening project would require "no or very negligible right-of-way acquisition needs and no removal of buildings."

For fans driving into downtown, AEG is employing a "dispersal strategy" for cars, said Los Angeles Department of Transportation Engineer Tomas Carranza. The developer wants to partner with area parking vendors to pre-sell parking spots, which could be sold via a Farmers Field smart app, for instance.

"It's the correct approach, what AEG is doing," said Carranza, who studied traffic flows at Safeco Field in downtown Seattle, and Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis to advise AEG.

But the developer faces numerous hurdles. Downtown parking vendors are often reluctant to partner with other companies because they don't want to open their books.

While AEG would like to consolidate ticket sales at Farmers Field with tickets sales from transportation agencies, some of those agencies have previously resisted participating in a universal program.

Fortunately for AEG, Angelenos are increasingly exposed to events designed to get them out of their cars, according to transportation experts. For example, the city has recently been hosting CicLAvia, a regular event in which streets in different neighborhoods are closed to encourage biking and walking, while last summer's Carmageddon closure of the 405 Freeway also highlighted alternate means of transportation.

Olivo no longer drives to Giants games in East Rutherford, N.J., choosing to bike instead.